Hiring, Firing And Surviving In The Gig Economy

…obal pool of office workers has been shrinking steadily since the introduction of the computer as far back as the 1960s. Today, unskilled workers are essentially competing with robots for their jobs; Artificial Intelligence I already chipping away at routine tasks for lawyers and accountants. This so-called “robot-capital” may increase corporate efficiency and flexibility, but it also increases uncertainty throughout much of the work force.

CloudQuant Thoughts: Crowdsourced workforces are an interesting expansion of the Gig Economy. Our business model is to provide those who want access to the markets but don’t have access to institutional grade tools the opportunity to participate even if they don’t work on Wall Street. This “Gig” allows the global participant as an equal with someone working in one of the big firms. Payment to the Gig worker is based upon the performance of the algo in the market. We trade their algos under a license agreement and they get a percentage of the profits. They don’t have to provide capital. It is 100% the fund’s capital allocated by CloudQuant.

Northfield launches news-based risk analysis tool

…Financial institutions do not need their own team of data scientists and domain experts to take advantage of the process.

Here’s how it works: Northfield’s partner, Alexandria Technology, a pioneer in machine learning, has developed classification algorithms that mimic the way a research analyst would evaluate news: capturing the who (entities), what (topics or events) and importance of a story (sentiment). On a typical day, Alexandria analyzes more than 5,000 news articles from Dow Jones & Co, including premium publications such as the Wall Street Journal and Barrons.

CloudQuant Thoughts: We have seen a lot of alternative data sources feeding algorithmic trading models. The logical extension is for these to show up in our risk tools. Nice innovation!

Linear Regression A Tale of a Transform

…What is linear regression?¶

In machine learning, we learn(fit) a model to some data using only a small sample of the data called the training set. The model is then used to make predictions about similar but unseen data. Linear regression is a model that represents data using a stright line. Linear regression got its name for historical reasons. In simple language it means line fitting.

CloudQuant Thoughts: We normally don’t see a practical example of linear regression and machine learning show up in our weekly news feed that we share with you. This is a simple introduction to Linear Regression with Python.

Toronto has drawn the interest of Amazon and Google.

…omputer science program saw a 50% increase in graduate school applicants, according to its director of professional programs, Matt Medland.

The university is also home to a superstar in the world of artificial intelligence, professor Geoffrey Hinton. Tech giants such as Google and Amazon see artificial intelligence as essential to the future of their companies.

Related: Google’s parent company to build futuristic neighborhood in Toronto

In its bid to host Amazon’s second headquarters, Toronto promised to boost the number of the students graduating with STEM degrees. Toby Lennox, CEO of Toronto Global, which organ…
2018-01-20 00:00:00 http://money.cnn.com/2018/01/20/technology/amazon-toronto-hq/index.html

Tayloe’s Thoughts: Over the years I have had the opportunity to work with many wonderful people in Canada. If my positive experience in dealing with IT and Financial professionals in Montreal and Toronto’s investment and trading industries is any indication then I am not surprised other companies working with the Canadians.

Firms lining up to do business with China’s Alibaba

…istribution market by “tapping into underserved customer segments with high mobile penetration.”

He said they’ve gotten that far by “linking financial services seamlessly” to online demand, applying artificial intelligence and advanced data analytics to leverage the data their customers’ spending patterns and other behaviors generate, to improve customer targeting and expand offerings.

Banks still big in China

Banks still dominate China’s distribution landscape with a roughly 50% share, while other traditional financial firms control the rest, said Mr. Chou.

CloudQuant Thoughts: What would be the downside? Of course, you want to seek out new and modern distribution channels.

Is It Really Possible to Use the Internet Privately?

… page.

Ghostery

Ghostery looks for trackers on sites you visit and stops them to speed up browsing load times. It eliminates clutter while protecting your browsing behavior. Ghostery recently added artificial intelligence features which will improve its ad- and tracker-blocking (Edward Snowden also endorses Ghostery — for what it’s worth).

…e of 82.6 and Alibaba’s grade of 82.4 beat out the human standard of 82.3. Other notable AI programs participating in the test and closing in on beating human scores come from the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, Tencent, Salesforce and others.

A strong start to 2018 with the first model (SLQA+) to exceed human-level performance on @stanfordnlp SQuAD’s EM metric! Next challenge: the F1 metric, where humans still lead by ~2.5 points!https://t.co/Uq10Dm2Ss5 — Pranav Rajpurkar (@pranavrajpurkar) January 11, 2018

CloudQuant Thoughts: Not impressed. If all the questions are simple like “What year did Genghis Khan die?” then the questions aren’t comprehension based, they are recalled based. Comprehension means that you can discuss questions more like “What modern political movement is most like the rise of Genghis Khan?”

Apple HQ2? Not quite, but the tech giant has plans for a new campus — does Seattle have room?

…e a good fit for Apple?

Apple already has expanded its engineering operations in Seattle, announcing details last year about it ambitions around establishing Seattle as its hub for developing future artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies for products such as the iPhone, MacBook, Apple Watch and other Apple devices and services.

We don’t know exactly how many people out of the 20,000 Apple plans to stick in a new campus. A quarter of that expansion — 5,000 people — would require more than 750,000 square feet of office space, using a standard of 150 square feet per person.

CloudQuant Thoughts: Hey! Think Chicago. We bet the mayor will gladly open the old post office for Apple. Think of all the free advertising they would get from everyone driving under an Apple facility.

…n in Europe, Facebook today announced a wide-ranging training program to help small businesses and provide individuals with critical digital skills.

In addition, the company said it would expand its artificial intelligence investments in France by hiring new engineers and expanding its scholarship program there, according to a post penned by Ciaran Quilty, Faceook’s vice president of small businesses for Europe, Middle East, and Africa.

CloudQuant Thoughts: Using AI, not just to grow a user base, but to actually benefit the people by gaining new skills. Nice!

10 things in tech you need to know today

…ying monthly. Helen Chiang, the new head of Microsoft’s “Minecraft” group, revealed the monthly figure in a new interview.

8. We profiled Mustafa Suleyman, one of the cofounders of Google’s DeepMind artificial intelligence lab. Suleyman dropped out of university and worked as an activist before getting involved in artificial intelligence.

9. There are problems with Apple’s iPhone battery explanation — and the company might end up paying the price in court. CEO Tim Cook claimed that Apple told users about slowing batteries, but it wasn’t included in the release notes for its software update.

A candid take on the future of AI and job automation

…on has already transformed manual industries, along with routine tasks that involve simple, rule-based activities like sorting mail and bookkeeping. But the wave of technologies referred to as “AI” — machine learning, computer vision, and natural language processing — allow companies to hand over increasingly sophisticated tasks to machines. GE and Shell, for instance, both employ algorithms for managerial work. An example from Shell is the use of machine learning to match employees with the right projects for their skills.

CloudQuant Thoughts: Whenever there is something threatening to take all the jobs, there is almost always an opportunity somewhere else. #innovation!

Amazon set to open doors on AI-powered grocery store

…er workings of the sophisticated AI software under wraps, Amazon Go’s vice president of technology, Dilip Kumar, provided Fast Company with a general explanation of how it works. Kumar said, “You use machine learning and use computer vision in a way that makes this experience completely seamless. We have spent a lot of time figuring out how to make our algorithms and our sensors reliable, highly available, and very efficient so that you get things right and we’re very accurate.”

CloudQuant Thoughts: Innovation often comes from the creative mind, not always the technical mind. One of the best project managers I have worked with originally studied music at Indiana University. Another great FINTECH innovator I know studied French. Sometimes it is the Liberal Arts major who is the best innovator because they have learned how to imagine.

…Google yesterday announced the the launch of their Cloud AutoML platform. It’s primary aim is to help businesses with limited resources and expertise, streamline and build high-quality machine learning models.

Currently, very limited organizations around the world have the capability to handle advanced machine learning and AI applications. It’s simply not possible to wait around for people to skill up; technology is advancing too quickly for companies to sit on their laurels and hope that people catch up.

The thoughts and opinions on this site do not represent investment recommendations by CloudQuant or Kershner Trading Group. Securities, charts, illustrations and other information contained herein are provided to assist crowd researchers in their efforts to develop algorithmic trading strategies for backtesting on CloudQuant.